Cheating when reheating

Most of us have a few leftovers in the fridge, usually less then a week old, though a few of you might have some stuff left over from the Bush administration. o.O' ew. One of the common reasons people leave their leftovers to an uneaten fate, is because most don't realize you can make it taste like the day you cooked it (Or brought it home). I hate the taste of reheated food, but I hate to waste anything, so I started experimenting. Oh, and toss store bought leftovers after day 3, home leftovers, after about 5. Use common sense. :)

Lets start with the basics.

Pizza - Common method of reheating:
Microwaving, nuking, zapping, and other wise ruining EVERYTHING wonderful about pizza. The downside is obvious. It's fast, but it's scalding hot, but cold in spots. It also ruins the chewy crust, turning it into a handle to be discarded or repurposed into a dog bone, ugh. Not to mention the soggy bottom that was once so wonderfully crisp is now gone.

Baking in oven. Better, but takes forever, and usually dehydrates the whole pizza, and tends to either zombify the crust, or burn it. The main issue here though is time. Most of us don't want to wait 30 minutes or less for the pizza AGAIN.

Alternate Method - My way.
Use the best of both worlds. Turn on your ovens broiler to high. Then take out your pizza and microwave for about 45 seconds to a minute per 2 slices (warmed but not hot). Then lay on a small piece of foil (crisper crust), or a oven safe pan. You might want to put a touch of cooking spray on it before you put your pizza on it, because the cheese will likely glue it down. Stick pizza under the broiler for 2-3 minutes or until preferred doneness is achieved. Your pizza will be much like the night before, crispy, gooey, and tasty. (if broiler isn't hot yet, increase time to about 5 min, you be the judge.)

Other Uses:


This method works wonders for all kinds of things, left over fried food, hotpockets, freezer dinners, even potato products. (seriously) The trick is keeping an eye on the food so it doesn't burn, and using a lower broiler temp on more complicated or starchy foods. You can of course use a toaster oven if you prefer, but the short amount of time you use the oven isn't much of an energy waste. If you think I'm crazy, look at many stouffers meals now. for the last few years they have said the same thing, but to use the oven, not broiler. They are correct of course, the broiler works too quickly on that kind of volume. Give your broiler a try for other things you want crisp, it's very underused. :)

Some foods can't be saved, such as a chinese stir-fry with a deep fried item in it, like sweet and sour pork, or General Tso's chicken. You can still bake it, but nothing is bringing back that crispiness. Best method is just to nuke it. However you CAN maximize the microwaves effectiveness. Place your stirfry on top of the rice, and nuke for 3-5 minutes depending on type and volume of stirfry. Make sure you cover it though, so that the food steams and heats evenly. Leave it sit for a few. This allows for the steam to penetrate the rice, and to refluff the starches. This is a great way to avoid the tooth breaking kernels of rice that often happens. If you have a soggy stirfry that has a lot of liquid and you don't want soupy rice, heat separately. Just sprinkle the rice with a little water and cover. Let both sit to equalize temp and avoid boiling freezing food. Stir and heat more of course if you have too, just try not to completely torch it.

Lastly, if you are a pasta lover, store the sauce and noodles separately if you want it to be similar to when it was fresh. Storing it together leeches the water out of the sauce and makes the noodles soggy and gross. Just mix and nuke when hungry. If you have a particularly sticky noodle, lightly toss with a tiny amount of oil before storing. This will waterproof your pasta and keep it close to al-dente. Once heated through, let it all sit for a bit.